Geography 1500F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Yasuni National Park, Energy Poverty, Kyoto Protocol
17 Dec 2016
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Document Summary
Case study: unconventional oil and gas: extracted through hydraulic fracturing (fracking) Shale gas gas trapped in porous rock far below the surface. Inject (cid:498)frack fluid(cid:499) water, chemicals, sand to break rock. Pump gas and (cid:498)flowback water(cid:499) out through well. Drilling horizontally along shale layer: impacts of fracking. Air pollution: releases methane (greenhouse gas), and other gases that contribute to smog. Water pollution: methane gas being released into underground aquifers. Health effects: fine particulates in the air that cause watery eyes, bloody noses, and shortness of breath: fracking. Earthquakes: result of tapping into bedrock and injected wastes and water. Wells are connected by pipelines large footprints. States/provinces and cities have made rules and laws: outright bans on new fracking licenses, setting a minimum setback distance between wells and homes (effectively rule out new wells in cities) Oil sands/ tar sands: bitumen (thick, heavy oil) is integrated with sand.
